Bank of America: No more free checking

Trying to find any source of income they can, Bank of America is waving bye-bye to free checking accounts – and saying hello to charging customers for face-to-face service, says the AP:

Bank of America, which does business with half the households in America, announced a dramatic shift Tuesday in how it does business with customers. One key change: Free checking, a mainstay of American banking in recent years, will be nearly unheard of.

…To make up for lost fees, [Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan] also started thinking of new products. In August, the bank introduced a new “eBanking” account, where customers were offered a free checking account if they banked online. The catch: If they opt for paper statements, or want access to tellers for basic transactions, they would be charged a monthly fee of $8.95.

Did you catch that? If you want to interact with a real human being, it’s $9 a month. Amazing.